This document is a newsletter from the Seedy Zine publication about seed libraries and urban agriculture. It provides information on upcoming seed cleaning and packing sessions in March, seed library locations in Toronto, and articles about seed saving, permaculture, and beekeeping. It also promotes related community groups and events like Seedy Saturday seed exchanges and Dig In campus agriculture activities at the University of Toronto.

1. See anything missing in the seedy zine?
Perhaps your article, poetry, artwork or promo material!
Please fill out tinyurl.com/seedyform or email
theseedyzine@gmail.com with any questions, ideas, or
material. The deadline for the spring issue is April 1st.
Toronto seed library
www.torontoseedlibrary.org

2. MESSAGE from the editors:
We are all Seedy Zines! By checking out, learning from and contributing
to this grassroots publication, you are creating awareness and sowing
the seeds of freedom. Thank you! Our gardening communities grow
stronger when we grow together. Sharing seeds, food, stories and
knowledge brings hope to a planet in peril. Caring brings life to a society
keen on destruction. It’s thyme – lettuce learn, laugh and live together
in Peas and Lovage in SOILidarity!
Seedy Zine Cultivator: Jacob Kearey-Moreland
Editor, Communications & Illustrations: Jako Raudsepp
Design Editor & Seedy Centrefold: Caitlin Taguibao
Contact: theseedyzine@gmail.com
Contribute: tinyurl.com/seedyform
Seedy Contributors:
Seed library architectural rendering by: Joshua Townsend
Articles: Brendan Behrman, Bryan G., Anna Guercio, Sarah E. Hoffman,
Jacob Kearey-Moreland, Tracy MacMaster, Karen McKenna, Gary F.
Patton, Ionatan Waisgluss, Jeff Woo.
Recipe: Eugene Marcello
Poetry: Emily Kedar, Terah Li, Brooke Topp
Toronto seed library locations
As of February 2014, listed here are 7 locations:
Toronto Tool Library “West Side” Branch
1499 Queen St. W | 647-498-1258
www.torontotoollibrary.com
The Permaculture Project GTA Headquarters
160 Bartley Dr. | 647-703-6190
www.permaculturegta.org
High Park Nature Centre
440 Parkside Dr. | 416-392-1748 ext. 2
www.highparknaturecentre.com
Church of Saint Stephen-in-the-Fields
(Kensington Market)
103 Bellevue Ave. | 416-921-6350
www.saintstephens.ca/toronto-seed-library
Regenesis at York University
347 York Lanes, 4700 Keele St. | 416-736-2100 ext. 31520
www.regenesisyork.wordpress.com
Toronto Tool Library “East Side” Branch & Maker Space
1803 Danforth Ave. | 647-559-6734
www.torontotoollibrary.com
NEW!
D.G. Ivey Library, New College, University of Toronto
20 Willcocks St., Wilson Hall | 416-978-2493
www.newcollege.utoronto.ca/academics/new-college-academic-programs/
d-g-ivey-library/
For more information and hours of operations, please visit:
www.torontoseedlibrary.org

3. We are launching the Toronto Seedy Saturday season with seed
cleaning and packing sessions all through March at various locations:
March 8 & 9: Evergreen Brickworks, 550 Bayview Ave.
March 15: Scadding Court, 707 Dundas St. W
March 22: East End – Scarborough, 100 Brimley Rd. S
March 29: South Etobicoke, Address TBA
March 30: North York Harvest, 5 Replin Rd.
March 30: Masaryk-Cowan CC (Parkdale), 220 Cowan Ave.
If you have surplus seeds, either from your own garden or from leftover
packets from previous years, please bring them along to the packing
sessions or to the seed exchanges featured at each Seedy Saturday. We
really appreciate accurate identification of the seeds as to species and
variety. It is also helpful to know the year they were bought or grown as
the viability of seeds is exceedingly variable depending on what they
are. Any other info as to where they grew: hardiness zone, sun or shade,
soggy or dry, etc. is also very helpful, especially for anything beyond the
more common vegetables.
These events also depend on volunteers for "the day of" for set up, tear
down and keeping everything functioning during the bountiful chaos.
Seedy Saturdays (and Sundays) are first and always seed exchanges, but
also include workshops on a range of garden related activities,
children’s zone, food vendors, local seed companies and that wave of
green community spirit that we really need at winter's end.
For more Seedy Saturday info, please visit: www.tcgn.ca/wiki/wiki/php
CONTENTS
Issue 1: Winter 2014
Why a Seed Library? p. 3
Jacob Kearey-Moreland and Brendan Behrman
Grass Roots – Plants as Cultural Identity p. 5
Ionatan Waisgluss
Eat Natural Chia Seeds for
Optimum Health and Wellness p. 7
Gary F. Patton
The Supermarket and You p. 9
Sarah E. Hoffman
Free Mulch in the City p. 10
Tracy MacMaster
A Risk Management Perspective to the
Crisis of World Hunger and Food Supply p. 11
Anna Guercio
Growing Squash from Seed to Seed p. 15
Seedy Centrefold p. 16
Recipe for Butternut Squash Soup p. 18
Eugene Marcello
The Successes and Trials of
Permaculture in a Community Garden p. 19
Bryan G.
What do Bees Have to Do with Seeds? p. 22
Karen McKenna
Seeding a Community of Seed-Savers: Part 1 – A New Era p. 24
Jeff Woo
Poetry Pages p. 26
Fun Page p. 29
Promo p. 30
Toronto Seed Library Locations back cover
32

4. Dig In! Campus Agriculture Network at U of T
Dig In! Campus Agriculture at the University of
Toronto is a group of students and community
members working to support and empower small-scale
sustainable food production on campus. We
aim to provide educational opportunities for
students and the community on issues pertaining to urban agriculture
and sustainability. Our weekly gardening days from April to November
are opportunities for folks to learn how to grow food in urban spaces
from seed to fork, hone skills, and meet new people. We host
educational workshops throughout the fall and winter - past workshop
topics have included fermenting, vermicomposting, edible body care,
seed saving, earth repair, garlic planting and more! Upcoming projects
include our Edible Mushroom Project, new signage, and permaculture
and pollinator gardens. We love collaborating with other campus and
community groups and Dig In! is always looking for volunteers to help
with planning, events, garden upkeep, composting, outreach, and
blogging. Everyone is welcome to Dig In’s activities and events - you
don’t need to be a U of T student to get involved. Want to get involved?
Got an idea for a project? We’d love to hear from you!
Email: campusagriculture@gmail.com
Facebook: Dig In Campus Agriculture
Twitter: DigInUofT
Sign up for our e-newsletter at www.campusagriculture.ca
Non-gmo coalition
The Non-GMO Coalition is a collection of groups from the Toronto area
working together to increase awareness and effect positive change
around GMO (genetically modified organisms) issues. The groups have
different concentrations, but share a larger vision of democratic
decision-making on the place of GMOs in our world. The coalition is
currently comprised of organic farmers and bee-keepers, students,
retirees, seed libraries, professionals, activists and parents, among
others, who are working on various issues including: seed sovereignty;
protecting farmers' livelihoods; the health of our pollinators (especially
bees); access to food that is healthy, non-GMO and pesticide free;
freedom from corporate and legal threats; and food safety, security and
sovereignty. Members work to provide particular skills and knowledge
to support others in their particular concentrations as they relate to
GMOs. The coalition itself enables a focused effort on effecting change
in the Canadian environmental, consumer, regulatory, political and
social landscape with respect to GMO issues.To learn more or get
involved contact toronto.nongmocoalition@gmail.com .
2 31

5. My name is Joanne Hutchinson and I have started Socio-Economic And
Environmental Development Solutions (SEEDS).
Effective October 29,2013 we are officially a Canadian non-profit
charitable organization # 80157 2736 here in Toronto.
Our web site is still growing but we hope it will bloom by the end of
February 2014. www.sendseedstoafrica.org.
Until then I have written 56 blogs about our projects "The Silozi Seed
Bank" & " Trees For Elephants" in Western Province, Zambia. To get an
idea of what we do you may go to https://medwoman.wordpress.com.
I have been to Kalabo Zambia twice. The first time was in August 2011
and again in August 2012. Both times I took seeds from the vegetables I
have bought here in Canada to eat myself. I dried them out and gave
them to my Zambian family to grow. They have informed me that they
were able to grow them and produce fruit. I am going to Zambia again
for the whole month of April 2014 to build the tree nursery.
I have found that individuals, restaurants and small catering and
banquet halls are more than willing to save Non GMO seeds from the
vegetables they use. It does not cost them anything and the seeds would
have been thrown out anyway.
Our web site will have ’How to grow” instructions for all of the seeds we
send to Zambia a long with many ways to help people, the environment
and Elephants.
We hope to establish eco-tourism trips to Zambia so if you would like
to join us, volunteer here in Canada or donate you may email.
joanne@sendseedstoafrica.org.
Have a Seed full Day!
Why A Seed Library?
By Jacob Kearey-Moreland and Brendan Behrman
The seed is the cornerstone of the entire food and agricultural system.
Food, along with water and air, is life, and seeds are where that life
begins — control the seeds and you control life itself. For eons
plants grew free in the wild; for thousands of years they
have been tamed and adapted to local needs and
conditions by humans; for decades they have been
subject to intense breeding and hybridization, and in an
unprecedented blind step, the past few years
have seen their very biological essence, their
DNA, become subject to the whims of modern
science and the insatiable pursuit of profit.
The above sequence is not some idealist
fantastical projection about a golden age in the
past; it is a cold, hard fact. These last two steps
in the progression of humanity’s relationship
with seeds have fundamentally altered the
social, economic, and biological foundations of
the global food system. Crucially, the most widely
used commercial seeds have shifted from a
common good to a privately held one — and that process
of commodification has now given birth to a whole culture of
resistance and renewal.
One vehicle for this resistance is the seed library. Seed libraries
function much like traditional book libraries except with seeds instead
of words in paper volumes. Members of the community “check out”
seeds, grow them, let an appropriate amount go to seed, harvest the
seeds, and “return” the seeds to the library. By putting seeds back into
the hands of the people, seed libraries resist the modern industrial
agricultural and food distribution system in major ways:
— Education: by spreading the knowledge and resources to
successfully grow and harvest food while saving seeds in a
continuous cycle
— Conservation: seed libraries preserve our traditional crops and
culture by keeping them alive and growing a sustainable future
(rather than keeping them frozen in time and ossified at seed
banks and museums; through circulating their seeds, seed
libraries keep the varieties adapted to the local climate and
conditions)
30 3

6. — Decolonization: by challenging monopolizing biotechnology
and industrial seed companies with a strong focus on native
plants and respect for indigenous wisdom
— Regeneration: of seed saving, of concepts of the commons,
reconnecting to where our food comes from and how it gets
there, and rebuilding a relationship to the natural world that has
been ruptured for many of us.
In the course of the 20th and 21st centuries most of humanity saw a
fundamental shift in our relationship with the production of food — we
ceased doing it, urbanized, and began engaging in wage labor. We were
told a narrative, that many of us came to believe, that we could only
feed the world with industrialized agriculture using a monocrop
system; that non-chemical (a.k.a. organic), small-scale, agriculture using
traditional crops was useless and condemned to the past, and at worst a
luxury of the rich. In reality, the majority of the world continues to grow
traditional seeds to feed itself, but global food security is threatened as
local food sovereignty is challenged by the supranational for-profit
control of seeds. Meanwhile global food insecurity increases as
inequality rises and the climate destabilizes.
Our alienation from growing food and saving seeds is fundamental to
propagating the false narrative of industrial agriculture as our savior by
removing food production from our immediate everyday experience
and concerns. Seed libraries seek to resist this idea by reconnecting
people with seeds, growing plants and cultivating ecosystems.
Re-engagement engenders resistance to the corporate-industrial
agricultural system, based as it is upon alienation from the modes and
means of food production. Join us, and regain our Seed Freedom!
Artijoke of the day
What do you get if you divide the circumference
of a pumpkin by its diameter?
Pumpkin pi.
Chive talk
peas
SOILidarity
radish revolution
seedy hall
seed-in
lettuce turnip the beet
feed’em lovagers
moss movement
thank yew berry mulch
4 29

7. 5
GARDEN WRAP
By Terah Li
plant a seed and watch it grow
weed and then water each row
reap and harvest what you sow
leave some for the wind to blow
calling all with spade and hoe
plant parsley, parsnip, potatoe,
peas and lovage as you know
turn adversary into caring allied friend no longer foe
these things take thyme, these things are slow
join me though, sis and bro
lettuce outgrow the status quo
who needs lawns you need to mow?
food not bombs is how to go
with soilidarity to show
community, in unity, is the best immunity
from a food system that will throw
pounds of produce out the window
while billions starve around the globe
and millions migrate to and fro
into deep pockets money goes
but in our gardens honey flows
'cause all we need are healthy bees, heirloom seeds, and fruiting trees
from that we feed all families
so that we're freed from those with greed
do something truly radical
plant a garden, none's too small
free food forever, fresh for all
...forever, y'all!
Grass roots - Plants as cultural identity
By Ionatan Waisgluss
Plants play a tremendous role in our daily lives; we relate to
them so thoroughly that we barely give these relations much thought.
They provide us with food, clothes, tools, medicine, as well as less
tangible things like artistic inspiration, tranquility, and even a sense of
identity.
Indeed, plants impact our identities
in all sorts of interesting ways, whether on
an individual scale (e.g., our names, our
tattoos, our “favourite plants”), or on the
much broader scale of political systems.
Take Ontario, for example, a province
that touts the White Trillium (Trillium
grandiflorum) on all of its official signage
and paperwork. Consider our health
cards, driver’s licences, tax forms...
the White Trillium signals
Ontarians’ belonging to a particular
system. If you’re looking to benefit from
public services, it pays to have a representation
of this flower in your wallet; it’s a token of belonging
and standardization. Moving up to the federal level we have The
National Flag of Canada, an emblem representing the natural wealth of
Canada, but also serving as a symbolic assertion of the government’s tie
to its land via the adoption of a native plant symbol: the leaf of the Sugar
Maple (Acer saccharum). The Fleur-de-lis of 12th century France and
modern day Quebec is yet another great example of cultural identity via
botany; in this case, the stylized Lily (Lilium sp.) represents, among other
things, a long line of heraldry.
A great number of political entities (e.g. countries, provinces,
cities) have corresponding trees or wildflowers, recognized on an
official level, but plants can also form the basis on which people
themselves relate to their culture and sprituality. First Nations
representation, for example, often takes place in the form of the
Medicine Wheel, four quarters of a circle representing, among other
things, four different plants. In some cases, plants are chosen because
of characteristics which speak to a group’s self-image. Many Israelis, for
example, refer to themselves as Sabra (Opuntia sp.), better known as the
Prickly Pear, alluding to the thick skin of the fruit that conceals a sweet,
softer interior. Plant symbols can also portray organization’s
28

8. identities and purposes, such as the wheat sprig
(Triticum sp.) of the Food and Agricultural
Organization. They can serve as symbols for
religions, like the Buddhist lotus (Nelumbo
nucifera) or the Rose (Rosa sp.) of
Rosicrucianism. They can even represent
political or social movements, such as the
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) of the
Scottish Green Party or the Peyote button
(Lophophora williamsii) of Gonzo journalism.
Of course, symbology is only one manifestation of the way
plants form our cultural identities. The plants we choose to eat, to grow,
to use in our idioms, the plants we consider moral or immoral—all of
these form part of our identity as well, in an endless array of ways
which is far beyond the scope of this article to dissect. Instead, my aim
was to spark a curiosity in the reader and to encourage them to
consider the plant symbology around them, keeping an eye out for
instances where plants stand as tokens of cultural identity. Which
plants have we picked to represent ourselves, individually and
collectively? What do these choices say about us? These are questions
which can't be answered in a single sitting, but will hopefully provide
the reader with some food for thought and inspire further interest in
the relationship between people, plants and place.
Ionatan Waisgluss can be found online at http://about.me/ionatan
All encompassing and connected
By Brooke Topp
we gathered in queen's park to build a garden
to tend the earth and seeds with our hands
to share our thoughts and feelings of the land, upon which we the
people stand
connecting all of my relations, every child, woman and man
we sang and cheered, spring at last is here!
we sang for mother earth out of love not fear
in a system designed to kill what we all hold dear
how crazy could it be to sow a family a meal?
there's plenty space in this land to grow and its time to heal
time to ask yourself who you are and how you really feel
please legislative security cops, tearing up gardens is not your job
and the city is hungry, all the bellies are grumbling
cuz despite old law, all the earth is sacred, each and every part
and its you, yes you! you beautiful creature of soulful soil
without you and i the world would not be whole
if you listen earth's plant and animal life are offering a new perspective
i keep in mind we are living life
all encompassing and connected
6 27

9. 7
By Emily Kedar
i have dug through the garden of my days
season after season,
plunging my hands in living earth,
turning soil with attention,
ripping out the roots of expectation
and flinging them onto the path
to by worn by time’s feet that pass,
left to become into some green newness.
i have churned the heart of this garden
with love and with respect and with fear
all dancing on the tips
of my fingers,
working until my hands are cracked,
because i know
that more than half of planting
is making space.
as i watch the dirt fountain
through my busy hands
i know that to be alive is movement
and i am satisfied.
but no matter
how much work we put
into cleaning out
the new beds in spring
the wild will have her way.
All those plants that tap and choke,
the jealousy, the anger,
find a place
among your lilies,
your mint and yellow lavender,
and they sing with a life
as deserving as any other.
All of this lives.
All of this matters.
Eat Natural Chia Seeds For Optimum Health & Wellness
By Gary F. Patton
Are you or a member of your family struggling with your weight? Has
your doctor warned you or one of them that you're showing the signs of
pre-diabetes? Might you already have diabetes? Do you suffer from
fatigue? High levels of stress? Other wellness problems?
If you’re “sick and tired” about being sick and tired, there is hope for
you and your family’s increased wellness by buying an easy-to-prepare,
inexpensive and nutritious natural food at your local grocery or bulk
food store.
Chia seeds contain:
● awesome amounts of Omega 3 fatty acids (the essential “good
fats”), i.e., eight (8) times more than potentially polluted salmon,
plus:
● five (5) times more calcium than whole milk...
● two+ (2+) times more iron than beef liver...
● fifteen (15) times more magnesium than broccoli...
● three (3) times more antioxidant power than fresh blueberries...
● more fibre than Flax seed in a unique, blood-sugar stabilizing
form...
● more protein than soy...
● Gluten-free... unlike addictive, high-glycemic wheat.
And on top of all the above awesome wellness benefits, Chia can be
added to and enhances any food, cooked or raw, even ordinary water,
without changing the flavour.
Researches class Chia seeds as a 'superfood'.
Superfoods are a special category of items
found in nature. These alone are calorie-sparse
and nutrient-dense. This means that
superfoods, like Chia seeds, pack "a lot of punch
for their weight" in terms of human wellness
value. Modern research has proven that a
tablespoon of Chia can sustain a healthy
person for 24 hours. Indeed, the word ‘chia’, in
the Mayan language, means ‘power’ because of its
26

10. Antioxidants: crucial dietary supplements required to maintain health
and prevent diseases like cancer or heart disease.
Fibre & Weight Control: Fibre has an integral role in our bowel
movements. Because it also gives us the feeling of satiety, it is a natural,
appetite suppressant.
Vitamins & Minerals: Chia contains a large amount of vitamin B, so
much so that it was proven that they increase metabolism, help
maintain healthy skin, and muscles and combat the causes of
cardiovascular disease. As a complete food, calcium, iron, potassium,
vitamin C, magnesium and zinc are also found in Chia seeds.
Getting the benefits: It is not necessary to grind Chia seeds to enjoy
their benefits like you do with less nutrition-packed Flax and Hemp
seeds. Bake them in muffins, soups, and sauces. Add them to smoothies,
cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, etc. The taste of Chia seed is very light. You can
incorporate them into your meals without altering the taste of your
dishes. For maximum nutrition retention eat the seeds alive by adding
them to uncooked fruit, salads, or as a garnish on top of cooked
vegetables, etc..
The Best Way to Eat Chia: The author of the top book on Chia
mentioned below, recommends the best way to eat it is to mix a
tablespoon of the seed in a six ounce glass of water. Let it sit for about
five (5) minutes and it will swell into a gel up to eleven (11) times its
normal size. Drink it before each meal! In this form, experts argue that
Chia packs more all-around nutritional value plus sugar-spike-modulating
benefits than any other food on the planet. For an added
wellness benefit, add the juice of half a lemon to your glass of gelled
chia after rising. Pure lemon juice is a terrific cleanse for your liver after
its night of detoxification.
For more intriguing info about "Chia" read this unedited article at
http://diigo.com/0w1ph. There you’ll discover some interesting graphics plus
secrets about the Mayans use of Chia. Or review the seminal book written on
the subject: "The Magic of Chia ...Revival of an Ancient Wonder Food" by James
F. Scheer
© 2014 Gary F. Patton, PattonAssociates.ca, People Development Coaches
will bear fruits in the communities we find ourselves living in
tomorrow, and I pray that we can imagine ourselves into worlds that
support, sustain and energize the very best possible realities into being.
Seed sovereignty and diversity are important elements in any healthy,
robust, & sustainable future, so it is vitally important that we help
nurture and develop organizations that encourage seed saving and
distribution, like Seed Libraries in Toronto and
around the world, like one of the pioneers in
seeds-saving: USC Canada a.k.a. Seeds of
Diversity, and publications like the Seedy
Zine. There are over 4068 native flowering
plants in Canada, 7500 species of Tomatoes,
and probably over ~300 000 plant species
on this Planet. If we are to preserve this
abundance & diversity for future generations, we have
to co-operate and co-ordinate amongst ourselves to
save and perpetuate seeds.
Co-creating sustainable systems & seed communities is not going to
happen overnight: We must be committed, patient and steadfast in our
faith, dedication and efforts, and trust that we are working for the
greater good, that our efforts have real and positive effects.
It's with great pleasure & gratitude that I'm able to contribute in even a
small way to the first of hopefully many publications of the Seedy Zine.
The Seedy Zine is a wonderful symbol of the unfolding growth in
consciousness right here, on the northern shores of Great Lake Ontario.
Wherever you are, may you be contributing to this growth in
consciousness as well, and enjoy being part of a community of species,
seed, and civilization savers, here on planet Earth. Best of luck to all.
Jeff is an aspiring documentary filmmaker on the subject of Intentional
Communities in North America, and co-creator of sustainable systems. He can
e reached via cleangreencommunities@hushmail.com
8 25

11. Seeding a Community of Seed-Savers: Part 1 - A New Era
By Jeff Woo
One by one, green shoots sprout
forth from planet Earth,
stretching up and out from
beneath the damp, dark soil into
the bluish-white sun-kissed sky.
Bees are zipping through the air
above, early flowers are blooming across
forest floors, and animals and humans are
emerging from their cozy winter dens.
As we travel from the Winter Solstice to the Spring Equinox,
just one year removed from the “End of the Mayan Calendar”,
we are witnessing, and are part of: the “Shift of the Ages”, a
new awakening, a new Spring.
Initiatives, such as the Toronto Seed & Tool Libraries, Collaborative
Consumption movements, and even this brand-spanking new
"Seedy Zine", are prime examples of new grassroots projects taking
shape and form in "the new paradigm". The new paradigm(s) include(s)
an emphasis on personal & collective responsibility: New eras of
conservation; Sharing of resources & skills; and Environmental,
humanitarian and social consciousness. Bascially we're co-creating a
better world for the good of All, centered in truth, justice, wisdom and
freedom.
New promising worlds are being born amongst the busyness and
future-less streams of old paradigms. These new worlds are like freshly
sprouted seeds: Just emerging from the fertile soils of imagination,
sending down roots of stability in a world of volatility, with our hopes
and our prayers.
Some sprouts inevitably grow into their full potential & bloom: Into
community hubs, resource centres, & beacons of light leading the way
towards a brighter tomorrow.
These little seedlings might even form offshoots and offspring along the
way, providing alternative paths that become more and more viable,
and attracting more and more people who want to make a difference,
improve their lives and improve the broader whole we call "Life in
general"; To participate in growing their own communities to become
more vital and more robust.
I hope we all recognize what a momentous time we are living in: A
time where many futures can be co-created, and it is up to each one of
us to decide which paths we set into motion. The seeds we plant today
The Supermarket and You
By Sarah E. Hoffman
The rise of the supermarket has created a commercial, corporate, and
detached economic transaction. Before the universality of the
supermarket, customers waited in line at small neighbourhood stores
and dictated the goods they wished to purchase and an assistant would
then retrieve and package the goods. The switch to supermarkets was
not swift or painless. The first true supermarket was developed in 1930
with the advertising slogan 'Pile it high. Sell it low'. The popularity of
automobiles allowed supermarkets, with their large parking lots, to
become anchors of strip malls. The public
remained dubious about many aspects of
the supermarket. The shopping cart, a 1937
invention, offended men who found it
effeminate while it annoyed women with
it's resemblance to a baby carriage. The
inventor of the cart had to hire male and
female 'shoppers' to demonstrate the
utility of the shopping cart while greeters
explained its usefulness. Housewives
were resistant to pre-packaged goods
such as cake mixes until manufacturers
included the addition of eggs and oil allowing
the housewife to feel as though the resulting cake
was truly homemade. We, the public, had to be
duped, harangued and schooled into the
supermarket. We had to be lured in with promises
of fanciful carts, pretty packaging and marketing gimmicks. We were
seduced by convenience.
But at what cost?
Before supermarkets we spoke to each other. We knew who grew our
food and how. We had relationships with neighbours and business
proprietors. We gave that up for over-salted, over-processed and over-cooked
convenience foods made in factories that pollute the
environment, mistreat animals and whose worker's basic human rights
are not respected. The institutionalization of the grocery store is almost
complete but with dedication we can achieve a different relationship to
our food. We can purchase foods directly from farmers through
farmer's markets. We can participate in agriculture through the
medium of CSA's (community supported agriculture). We do not have
to participate in the commodification of our food but can instead learn
to communicate with each other through and over food. If we can't
know our butchers and bakers we can know each other. Host a dinner
party. Have a picnic with friends. Communicate over food and the
24 9

12. 10
importance, and negative connotations, of the supermarket may lessen
with time.
Sarah E. Hoffman is a pamphleteer, blogger, academic and gastronomist. She
enjoys picnics, the smell of freshly baked bread and bobo tea. When stressed
she bakes until the flour runs out. Sarah is married to a very understanding
non-foodie, whom she is in the process of converting. Find her @Sarah999 or
wingedsnail99.blogspot.com
Free Mulch in the City
By Tracy MacMaster
My first Spring in my current community plot, one of my fellow
gardeners stopped by to look over the fence. He saw beds covered in a
mix of oak leaves, birch and maple, unceremoniously swept up from
around my building and dropped on top of the spread-out paper bags
they were carried in. He commented, “That’s a lot of leaves.” “Yep.” He
looked puzzled. “You going to rake those up?” “Nope.”
And so my efforts to find free, organic mulch in the city came to light.
Over the years I’ve used black plastic pool covers found on the street
(alas, non-organic, not to mention a garter snake magnet), moldering
hay from a friend’s horse farm, used coffee grinds from the evil
corporate coffee house, and even bales of straw, obtained through
barter on Craigslist for the promise of veggies down the road (the kind
folks who traded loved the tomatoes). These materials have in
common two important things; they are firmly within the spirit of
community gardening – they make due with what recycled materials
you can scrounge, and they provide what every gardener works
towards – a weed-free environment for veggies.
Organic mulch keeps down weeds, and more. Mulch cools soil
temperatures, allowing microbes, worms and other friendly creatures
to thrive. As organic materials break down over time, nutrients are
added to the soil. Less water is required to keep your plants happy,
since evaporation is reduced, and soil erosion is slowed. That’s a lot of
good from a pile of leaves.
So the next time you look over your community gardener neighbors
fence, check out their ideas for mulch. If you are lucky, they will let you
in on their source.
Although the bee situation is dire, it is not
hopeless. We can all take steps to help
honeybees and native pollinators by
planting gardens with plants that
bloom throughout our growing season.
You can also avoid pesticide laden food by
growing your own-organics can be
expensive unless you buy direct from farmers
at Farmers’ Markets.
Kathleen Wynne seems to be in support of bee issues, her recent letter
to Health Minister advises swift action, but the Ontario’s Bee Health
Working Group anticipated timelines (2018) are worrisome. Following
a 2008 ban on neonics in Italian agriculture in Italy, there have been no
mass bee die-offs in bee yards around crops. You can help advocate
for a total ban on neonicotinoids by writing your local M.P., Kathleen
Wynne and Health Canada. Locally you can help by joining the March
Against Monsanto this May 24th. I have helped organize beekeepers to
march at the last 2 MAMs in our suits to garner public attention to the
bee crisis, and we have plans for a higher profile at the next March
including a national press release-please join us.
-Karen McKenna, beekeeper.
You can keep up with my beevents and bee news at:
www.facebook.com/hihoneysavethebees
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13. What do bees have to do with seeds?
By Karen McKenna
In short-everything! 2012 honey sales were $173 million in Canada, but
the direct and indirect value of pollination is much greater; $2.7 billion
per annum according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. What is at
stake if we continue to lose bees at the current rate is priceless; beyond
finances, bees are responsible for every third bite of food we eat. No
bees means no food, as one beekeeper’s sign at last Spring’s March
Against Monsanto in Toronto proclaimed.
Beekeepers and our allies are gravely concerned
about threats to an established species which has
been around for 100 million years; if they are in
trouble so certainly are we as a relatively new
species in world history. The toxins in
neonicotinoid pesticides (neonics for short) are
the class of pesticides which threaten life
beyond bees although that would be enough to
raise serious alarm. The American Bird
Conservancy notes that even very low doses of
neonics are toxic to birds and aquatic systems,
and remain in soil for up to ten years. Samples of
dead bees have been analysed by the Health
Canada Pesticide Management Regulatory
Agency and the vast majority proved to have high
levels of neonicotinoid chemicals clothiandidin
and/or thiamethoxam in dead bee populations
and in their bee yards.
Why all these poison seeds? The use of neonicotinoid coating
increases bushels per acre for corn production, and leading toxic seed
producers Monsanto, Syngenta and Bayer CropScience have spent lots
of money brainwashing agribusiness producers that the world will
starve without buying into neonicotinoid coated seeds. This new class
of pesticides is much different than spray pesticides as neonicotinoids
grow through the entire plant, contaminating pollen and nectar, and
eventually our food supply. Corn and soy make up over 50% of
Ontario’s field crops, and farmers can no longer easily access seeds
without this coating as the seed market has been dominated by poison
producers listed above. Starting in 2004, seed companies in the U.S.
has marketed seeds with five times greater the amount of
neonicotinoid than ‘traditional’ 0.25 mg per seed, according to the
Pesticide Action Network and Beyond Pesticides.
A Risk Management Perspective to the crisis of
World Hunger & Food Supply
By Anna Guercio
As a prudent risk manager, my primary function is to mitigate risk and
help an organization achieve its objectives. What is risk? Well it can be
speculative which is a chance of loss or no loss or possible gain, or it
could just be pure risk much like speculative but with no gain.
What does the world face with our food supply is
it just pure risk that we allow companies
like Monsanto to dictate our world food
supply? Or should we take a chance on
ourselves and become resourceful within
our own means, insure our own food supply?
At the end of the day what is the real objective?
Recent statistics proved by The United Nations Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) estimates the following:
• 870 million people of 7.1 billion, or 1 in 8, suffer from chronic
undernourishment
• 852 million hungry people live in developing countries, 15% of
the population
• 16 million people undernourished in developed countries
• Africa went from 175 million - 239 million, 1 in 4 are hungry,
sub-Saharan Africa, hunger rising 2% per year
• Developed regions, 13 million to 16 million hungry
On the positive, due in large part to socio-economic progress:
• Undernourished people decreased nearly 30 percent in Asia
and the Pacific, from 739 million to 563 million a decrease from
23.7% to 13.9%
• Latin America & the Caribbean, 49 million hungry in
comparison to 65 million, a decrease from 14.6% to 8.3%
Risk assessment is simple, we must have social protection, it is crucial
for accelerating hunger reduction.
22 11

14. First, it can protect the most vulnerable, who do not benefit from
economic growth. Second, social protection, properly structured, can
contribute directly to more rapid economic growth through human
resource development and strengthened ability of the poor, especially
smallholders, to manage risks and adopt improved technologies with
higher productivity. Below is an example of mitigating and treating this
risk:
Problem:
• Belo Horizonte is the third-largest city in Brazil, 2.5 million
people
• Early 1990s, 38% lived below the poverty line, 20% children
3years of age & under suffered from malnutrition.
Resolution:
• Development of a multifaceted structural response by the
government that successfully transformed the human right to
foods that are adequate in both quantity and quality into reality
Results:
• Program reduced child mortality by 60%
• Substantially influenced Brazil’s national Zero Hunger Policy,
using only 2% of the city’s annual budget
• Numerous awards from the United Nations in recognition of
this incredible & successful effort
How did this successfully work in Brazil?
System consisted of more than 20 highly interconnected programs that
fostered and complemented one another
• Central project management by means of a specially created
department within the municipality
• Supported urban agriculture with community gardens in poor
districts with training workshops to promote successful
cultivation
• Provision of special sales outlets to commercial green grocers
in the most popular markets, to provide at minimum 25 healthy
products at a low fixed price
• Provision of market stalls to small scale farmers to sell direct to
consumers
and cricket populations, while allowing the establishment of visible
fungal networks. All these things increase the amount of nutrients
available in the soil to plants. Three varieties of kale, a dozen heirloom
tomatoes, Purple Podded pole beans and discarded yarrow were
transplanted into holes made in the cardboard.
With all of the great opportunities that came with this plot, there were a
couple organizational practices I took issue with as a gardener with
permaculture at heart. I was unsettled that there was no onsite compost
system: the garden is on private land and composts are considered
non-aesthetic. Resources the gardeners wasted had to be trucked off-site
by city subcontractors to be mixed with green bin refuse and gutter
sweepings; delivered back to the garden as compost. This year’s tilling
fell on the third week of October: acting on mistaken advice, I put a
fresh layer of leaves over my plot on closing day, about a week before.
What I would like to see would be untilled plots covered with
neighbourhood leaves during the fall and a singular till in spring. A by-product
of “tilling in” organic surface matter is the indiscriminate kill-off
of bug populations. In ecological garden design, the vast majority of
bugs are “good guys” and they are necessary to keep the “bad guys” in
check.
From a permaculture perspective, at the end of the day this beautiful
garden is ultimately operating within a man versus nature ideology and
could use a permaculture makeover. Maybe the garden isn’t ready for
permaculture, as many members continue to have faith in soil-depleting
shake and feed synthetic fertilizers. Next year, I will generate
curiosity and possibly controversy, as I tuck a worm barrel into a corner
amongst sunflowers, converting plant wastes into yields of
vermicompost and “worm urine”.
Bryan is the founder of Backyard Groceries, a budding suburban business that
seeks to connect people with each other, their communities, and Mother Earth
through the common desire to be closer to our food. For educational articles,
videos and to learn more about Backyard Groceries visit:
www.BackyardGroceries.com.
You can contact Bryan directly at BackyardGroceries@hotmail.com
12 21

15. 20
plot. Chop and drop is a technique which involves pruning fast growing
plants to provide leafy material used to mulch the soil around favoured
crops. Daikon radishes were used as one of the main “chop and drop”
materials. The white Daikon flowers were food for various species of
bees and wasps and after breaking up the subsoil, the large ground-penetrating
tap roots were left to decompose in place to add fertility to
the soil. With the help of my dad, tomatoes, borage, tomatillos, basil,
carrots, amaranth, parsley, endives, corn, cucumbers, tobacco,
sunflowers, yarrow, lettuces, Red Malabar spinach and a cardoon were
planted for the
purposes of yield,
diversity, and
attracting predators.
The plants also acted
as a living-mulch,
assisting a thin layer
of straw to shade-out
unwanted plants. At
the far end of the plot,
a repurposed net was
used to support Red
Malabar vining spinach, drawing in both people and spiders with pink
flowers and tropical allure (see below).
I acquired the other half of my 11’ by 24’ plot once grass seeds had
germinated and were well established. Busy setting up clients’ gardens,
there was no way I would be able to invest time and labour resources
needed to battle quack grass of that magnitude! Also I was running low
on traditional mulch materials. The one resource I did have was
knowledge. I blanketed the area with a single layer of cardboard.
Lacking a moisture holding mulch on top of the cardboard, I did not
expect the cardboard to degrade. The “naked cardboard” mulch still
conserved moisture and led to large increases in earthworm, centipede
• Nutrition information program targeted to poorer areas of the
city, including free cooking lessons (teams organized from
various departments such as Health, Education, Sports, Social
Work and Food Security)
• Free school meals, supply fresh
products with high nutritional value
• Public restaurants subsidized by
the municipality provided a
supply of affordable, healthy and nourishing meals
for low-income citizens, currently 5 restaurants are operating
providing 4 million meals a year, the poor are not stigmatized
In summary, the food security system of Belo Horizonte could, with
some adaptation, become a successful model for other cities around
the world. The benefits take time to materialize even when the poor
benefit from economic growth. In the short-term, social protection
supports the most vulnerable so that hunger and nutrition can be
reduced now. It is also a foundation for reducing under nourishment
for the long term as it improves the nutrition for young children, an
investment sure to pay off in the future with smarter, stronger and
healthier adults.
Social protection helps to mitigate the impact of risk to promote
technology adoption and economic growth. A systems approach is
needed to link the various goals in an integrated and cost-effective
manner.
Food banks, while a well-recognized and important emergency to
hunger, cannot be expected to adequately respond to the long-term
challenges of food insecurity. They are not generally able to guarantee a
nutritious diet and are forced by virtue of limited resources to limit the
level of assistance provided to any particular person or family
The second and most critical component to insure food security is a
need for a global framework, even if this entire infrastructure was in
place, the one critical risk factor that we need to look at is the
magnitude of changes in our agriculture and water supplies that is
occurring due to climate change.
The risk process concludes that given the excellent example in Brazil,
that this approach best eradicates undernourishment and malnutrition
as quickly as possible. So let’s turn our attention back to our own
individual communities first rather than be concerned about the fight
against corporate giants, the best way to defeat hunger is to take care of
our own first.
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16. 19
Policy makers at the national and international level and those
developing investment strategies to enhance economic development
face many challenges with the changing face of agriculture in the 21st
century. While agriculture is the primary source to feed, clothe, and
provide materials for fuel and housing for a growing world population,
the challenge is at the same time to lift millions of people out of poverty
and hunger, reduce the impact of agriculture on the environment and
global warming, and sustain water and land resources. These are issues
that go beyond national boundaries.
As I began I will end, what is the objective? It is clear as illustrated with
the Brazil example that we need to mitigate the risk, it is no longer a
mere speculation but a doable functional method that begins with each
other within the context of a global community by community and
shown that rapid progress in reducing hunger requires government
action to provide key public goods and services within a governance
system based on transparency, participation, accountability, rule of law
and human rights.
Let us end the speculation of risk and make this an opportunity for a
complete global gain, we do nothing we will face risk of loss on a grand
scale that we may never recover from, let our objective remain focused
and steadfast towards exploiting this risk in finding opportunity in the
potential growth and betterment for all.
Peas!
Anna Guercio is a freelance writer and risk manager.
The Successes and Trials of Permaculture in a Community Garden
By Bryan G.
For the last two years I have made myself one of the most exciting jobs I
have ever had! It involves long hours, muscle-building hard work for 8
months of the year, getting bit by mosquitoes, and the retention of lots
of facts that would make many people’s eyes glaze over. Yet, when I
take time to look, the product far outweighs the effort. I get to watch
nature grow and socialize with itself, as I ponder the problem solving
abilities inherent in Mother Earth. Additionally, I get to eat food that I
know is clean and sustainable, and occasionally I get to see hardened
adults get excited by an innocent joy.
I teach, maintain and install ecological and edible organic gardens. This
past summer, I took a shot at applying some of the permaculture
principles I utilize to an allotment style community garden located in
the centre of Historical Markham. A hundred years ago, the land was
part of a dairy pasture, now there are over eighty allotments that take
advantage of the thick topsoil.
My allotment was situated in full sun and had not been cultivated since
the abandoned raspberry patch, dandelions and weedy-grasses were
tilled-in last summer. Staying true to ecological-gardening principles, I
had soil fertility, increasing pollinators, attracting predatory insects, and
minimizing work in mind. What ended up happening was a beautiful
annual version of permaculture chop and drop that filled in half the
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17. 18
Butternut squash soup
By Eugene Marcello
With this recipe, we begin with our curvy cucurbita friends, strip them
and cook them all together in a pot--in a steam bath actually. Then we
pick them up, get our motors running, and really mix it up. What results
is a luxuriant and intensely squashy soup that will get your heart racing.
Prep/cooking time: approx. 1hr 15min
4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) butter OR oil
1 small onion, chopped oh so fine
1 quite large butternut squash (or two smaller ones if you’d prefer)
6 c. water
1/2 c. heavy cream OR soy milk
1 tsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1. Cut the squash into halves. Remove all of the slimy guts and seeds
from inside and reserve them. Now cut those squash halves in half
again. Now you have squash quarters.
2. With the stove set to medium, melt the butter (or add oil) in your
soup pot. After its bubbling subsides, add the onions and stir them
all around so they get all nice and mixed-in.
3. After a couple minutes, the onions should start turning translucent.
Now throw those squash guts in.
4. Stir this all around and cook it up until it gets your kitchen full of
fresh squash smell. Approximately 5 minutes.
5. Pour the water into the pot, salt it, bring it up to a boil then turn it
back down to a nice bubbling simmer.
6. Place those squash quarters into a colander or other steam-able
insert and set it inside the pot. Now cover that pot and steam those
squash bits for about 30 minutes until they are all cooked through.
7. Get those nice, tender squash quarters out from the pot. Careful,
they will be a bit hot to handle. Once they've cooled, remove the
skin and blend them into a smooth puree.
8. Now strain everything from that liquid (the onions and squash guts
have sacrificed their flavour for the soup and can safely be
composted) and mix it in with the pureed squash, the cream or soy
milk and the brown sugar.
9. Warm everything up until it’s piping hot and serve it immediately.
Quickly! As fast as you can. It's getting cold!!
If you've done it correctly, your soup will be nearly uniformly smooth
and bursting with a strong squash flavour.
GROWINg SQUASH
from seed to seed
Squash (Cucurbita argyrosperma/maxima/ficifolia/moschata/peope)
Planting: Sow seeds outdoors in 12” diameter hills after
danger of frost has passed and soil has warmed. Hills
should be spaced 6’ apart in all directions. Plant seeds 1”
deep with 6-8 seeds per hill; thin to 3-4 plants per hill.
Seeds can also be started indoors 3 weeks before
transplanting outdoors.
Squash prefers full sun.
Seed Saving: Squash within the same species will cross-pollinate,
so isolate species by ¼ mile. Seeds should be
taken from fruits that have gone past maturity by 3 weeks.
Remove seeds, wash, and let dry.
(Note: There are five species of squash: C. argyrosperma, C.
maxima, C. ficifolia, C. moschata and C. pepo. This allows
you to grow five different species of squash and save pure
seed in the same garden.)
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